Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
Psalter: Proper / (White)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 139: 1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15: I praise you for I am wonderfully made.
1st Reading: Isaiah 49: 1-6
He hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me into a polished arrow set apart in his quiver.
He said to me, “You are Israel, my servant, through you I will be known.”
“I have labored in vain,” I thought, “and spent my strength for nothing.”
Yet what is due me was in the hand of Yahweh, and my reward was with my God.
I am important in the sight of Yahweh, and my God is my strength.
And now Yahweh has spoken, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, to gather Israel to him.
He said: “It is not enough that you be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel.
I will make you the light of the nations, that my salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”
2nd Reading: Acts 13: 22-26
After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom he bore witness saying: I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all I want him to do.
It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Savior of Israel, Jesus. Before he appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said: ‘I am not what you think I am, for, after me, another one is coming, whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’
Brothers, children and descendants of Abraham, and you, also, who fear God, it is to you that this message of salvation has been sent.
Gospel: Luke 1: 57-66, 80
When the time came for Elizabeth, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the merciful Lord had done a wonderful thing for her, and they rejoiced with her.
When, on the eighth day, they came to attend the circumcision of the child, they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” They said to her, “But no one in your family has that name!” and they made signs to his father for the name he wanted to give him. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and wrote on it, “His name is John;” and they were very surprised. Immediately, Zechariah could speak again, and his first words were in praise of God.
A holy fear came on all in the neighborhood, and throughout the hill country of Judea the people talked about these events. All who heard of it, pondered in their minds, and wondered, “What will this child be?” For they understood that the hand of the Lord was with him.
As the child grew up, he was seen to be strong in the Spirit; and he lived in the desert until the day when he appeared openly in Israel.
REFLECTION:
“The Lord is gracious.”
John the Baptist, the precursor of our Lord Jesus, was born in spite of the unfavorable conditions surrounding Zechariah and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was barren. Both of them were already old.
The Gospel for today narrates the birth of John the Baptist and his consequent naming. The people in their neighborhood wished to name him Zechariah. To name a child after the father’s name was one of the most common things to do at that time.
However, Elizabeth and Zechariah insisted that the child’s name be John. The name John means “the Lord is gracious.” Zechariah means “the Lord has remembered.” Elisabeth may mean “the promise of my God.” The Lord always remembers to fulfill his promise. We may reflect on the kind of life God wants us to have.
With the Lord Jesus, whose way John the Baptist prepared, the gracious life with God now becomes accessible to all of us.
Furthermore, we are now given an assurance that no matter how unfavorable conditions surrounding our present life, God will remember to fulfill his promise, penetrating our life like “daybreak from on high” (Lk. 1:78).
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